On Martin Luther King Day at Standing Rock, there were actions both at Turtle Island (the small hill where ancestors are buried) and the Highway 1806 bridge, which is a public road that is still illegally blockaded by the forces protecting the pipeline company. In both locations, the cops, mercenaries, and National Guard attacked the water protectors with mace and teargas, and fired rubber bullets at point-blank range directly at people who were only a few yards away from them.

Here is unedited footage from Turtle Island (20 mins). The National Guard’s unnecessary attack happens within the first 6 minutes.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgG241bkYY]

Below is a long video of what happened at the Backwater Bridge, 1/16/17 (1:29:54). This action is like a rollercoaster. You can hear the “less-lethal” weapons being fired in the first 5 minutes. At 5:42 closeups of cops shooting for no reason at all. At 8:15 they retreat, and at 16:00 they come back out. At 45 minutes, there’s a quiet discussion across the barrier between cops and one or two water protectors, which is followed by hand-holding and group prayer with the cops across the barrier. Things escalate again at 1:16:00. I was exhausted just watching. [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cawDFi82iFk]

This video (17:24) shows the live arrest (at 6:40) of two water protectors for, as far as I can tell, simply walking near Turtle Island. The cops say, “stay on the south side of the river, you’re trespassing.” Trespassing? This is the Sioux’s ancestral treaty land, where their forebears are buried.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oRBelLAlGs]

There is a new piece of military equipment now stationed on one of the hills overlooking the Oceti Oyate and Sacred Stone camps. Some people are saying it is ground-to-air missiles for shooting down drones. This video (4:30) also includes some information about two proposed laws being considered by the ND legislature: one that would make wearing a mask or in some way covering your face illegal (in below-zero weather!) and the other that would allow drivers to basically commit vehicular homicide. They would no longer be responsible for injury to a protester who was standing in the road.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WncuDuzowU]

Here’s more information about the two new laws: the mask one and the “motorist liability” one. Both of these attempts to destroy the First Amendment in North Dakota are despicable.

Finally, some information has come out about cops from other jurisdictions using Standing Rock as a training ground.

Two notable takeaways are his recommendation that all officers in the WHP should be trained in mobile field force - which is another way of saying riot police - and that orange colored forearms be used to make whatever redacted less lethal equipment being used look less lethal.

Also mentioned were removing the protesters earlier before they dug in, developing counters to protester maneuvers like the sleeping dragon, listening in on protest leaders, and using an outlet to combat news reports unfavorable to police. Or in his words, “so called media such as Unicorn Riot.”